Picture frame easel



July 13, 1943- G. RosENBE'RG ETAL 2,324g027 .PICTURE FRAME ESEL Filed Feb. 11, 194s 56 INVENToRs Gear Q Igsnberg l. uzs pzselman Patented July 13, 1943 PICTURE FRAME EASEL George- Rosenberg and Louis Spiselman, New York, N. Y.

Application February 11, 1943, Serial No. 475,561

(Cl. Lu-152.1)

1 Claim.

This invention relates to easels for picture frames, picture backs and the like articles, and particularly to extensible easels associated with the back members of such articles.

Owing to the present scarcity of metal and metal substitutes such as plastics, the means customarily employed for removably holding the back sheet of a picture frame in place and for associating an easel therewith are no longer available and resort must be had to non-metallic and available materials for this purpose. Paper board is such material, but diiculty has been experienced in securing the easels and the movable parts of the back, when made of paper board, to the relatively fixed portion or rim of the back member in order to hold the picture normallyv in place against the glass front of the picture frame assembly, while permitting the parts to be unlocked and the inner or movable back part moved out of the way when the picture is to be inserted in place or replaced by another.

The present invention therefore contemplates the provision of a movable picture-holding back member and an efficient pre-formed extensible easel associated therewith wherein cooperating integral non-metallic extensible means are provided for eectively .but releasably locking the movable back to the remainder of the frame and for locking the easel parts together.

The invention further contemplates the provision of a simple but eicient and economical paper board lock for releasably securing an easel and the movable back with which it is associated in place in the frame, the lock bei-ng readily operated by unskilled persons to secure the parts together and to release them for the insertion or replacement of a picture in the frame.

The invention further contemplates the provision of a combined easel lock and. back lock effective to look the easel parts in their extended or operative positions and also to urge the movable back forwardly toward its operative position and to maintain it releasably in said position against accidental displacement, said easel and back being adapted to be formed if desired from a single sheet of material or from separate pieces as may be found convenient.

The various objects of the invention will .be clear from the description which follows and from the drawing, in which,

Fig. l is a rear View of a frame to which the invention has been applied, showing the parts in their iiat, collapsed or preformed positions prior to the extension thereof.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged vertical section of the same taken on the center line of Fig. 1 and showing the parts when in their extended or operative positions.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the same partly broken away, showing the parts in their extended positions.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the back and i-ts associated extended easel and lock.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary rear View of a modied form of the invention wherein the easel, lock and back members are all formed from the same sheet.

In the practical embodiment of the invention shown by way of example, the usual glass front IIJ is held to the annular rim II of the back member in any suitable manner as by the corner clips I2, or by cement or the like, or by setting the member in a metallic or other frame of the usual type. As is usual, any suitable mat may be interposed between the rim Il and the glass I0 and may extend inwardly of the rim. The picture I3 is held between the movable back part I4 of the back member and the rear face of the glass. Preferably, the part I4 is cut of the same sheet of material as the rim II by the cuts I5, I8, IT (Figs. l and 4) and is movably hinged to the upper part of the rim for swinging movement toward and from the glass by means of the score lines I8, I9 between the parallel cuts I5 and I7.

The usual means for holding the back part I4 to the remainder of the frame such as the rim I I is omitted herein except for the frictional contact between the edges of the rim and the part I4 adjacent the cuts I5, I6, I1. Novel means,

however, are provided for removably holding the back part I4 in place and urging it toward the glass, said mea-ns also serving the additional function of an ei'licient lock for locking the easel parts in their operative extended positions.

As shown in Figs. 1 to 4, part of the lock is formed from the added easel sheet 20, and the remainder is formed from the back part I4, but is integrally joined to the rim I I. The upper longitudinal middle portion 2| of the easel sheet 20 is suitably secured to the rear face 0f the back part I4 as by adhesive, rivets or other appropriate fastening means, leaving the free side aps 22, 23 hinged to the central -portion 2| to swing rearwardly about the respective longitudinal parallel score lines 24, 25. Said score lines are interrupted to permit the male lock member 26 to be made without upright score lines and to project upwardly and integrally from the lower transverse portion 21 oi the rim. The lower part of the central portion 2l is unsecured to permit the part I4 together with the easel as a unit to be lifted when a picture is to be inserted in the frame or removed therefrom. It will be noted that the cut I6 is also interrupted at its middle part for the same purpose and there replaced by the score lines 28 to provide a hinge line about which the male member 26 may be swung rearwardly into its proper locking position. Said male member is cut from the material of the back part I4 by the cuts 29, 39, 30', 3I, 3l', 32, 32', 33 and 33', and is completely separable from said back part but is in one piece with the transverse portion 21 of the rim II. along the top and both sides of the male member. The parallel cuts 33 and 33 extend downwards to the hinge lines 28, while the cuts 30 and 30 are parallel and close to the respective cuts 33 and 33' and are joined thereto by the short cuts 32 and 32 respectively to form grooves of about the thickness of the easel sheet.

To permit the male member 23 to interlock with the easel flaps, a pair of locking projections similar to each other are formed in said aps by means of the meeting cuts 34, 35, 35', 36, 36', 31, 31 and 38, which remove a piece of material from the easel sheet of such shape as to leave perforations or apertures in the flaps and to provide the upstanding spaced quadrants 39, 40 projecting into the cut-out or opening of the easel sheet. Said quadrants overlap the side flaps 4I, 42 of the malelocking member and rest theron before the easel flaps are extended, thereby preventing the male member from being swung out of its flat position coplanar with the back part i4 before the easel flaps are rst swung into their operative positions at right angles to the back part I4. This arrangement avoids damage to the lock parts such as might The cut 29 extends occur under improper manipulation of the parts,

since such manipulation is adequately prevented by the described overlapping.

It will be noted that the cut 31 is about midway between the cuts 3| and 33 forming the groove 43 between the ap 4I and the body portion of the male member to provide for the displacement of the easel aps and to permit the quadrants 39, 4D to enter the grooves 43 when the parts are swung into the locking positions therof. It will also be noted that a cut-out as 44 may be formed in the upper edge of said member to provide a nger entrance whereby the member may be lifted away from the back part i4, and that the cuts 35, are preferably slightly below the cut I6 to compensate for the thickness of the nap 25.

After the back part I4 together with the easel carried thereby has been swung rearwardly about the hinge lines I3, I9 and the picture inserted in place within the rim l I, the part I4 is pushed back into the rim and in tight frictional contact therewith at the respective adjacent edges thereof. The flaps 22, 23 are then folded about their respective score lines 24, 25 into the position of Fig. 3 to carry the Cut edges 31, 31 of the quadrants 39, 49 into the grooves 43, whereafter the male member 26 is swung downwardly about the hinge lines 29 into the position shown in Fig. 2 and also shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Since the hinge lines 28 are higher than the centers of the quadrants, a cam action occurs due to the eccentric movement of the bottoms 32, 32' of the grooves relatively to the curved edges of the quadrants. Such movement rst carries the edges 32, 32 against the quadrant edges and then exerts pressure in a forwardly direction upon the CLI quadrants to force them and the easel together with the back part I4 toward the glass, thereby to take up slack or space and tighten the back part I4 against the picture and to atten the picture against the glass.

Since the male member is part of the frame, specifically being part of the rim portion 21, the easel and the back part I4 are detachably locked to the remainder of the frame by the lock members 26, 39 and 40 at a point where such lock is most effective, that is, at a point opposite the hinge lines I8, I9. The easel flaps are also locked in their extended operative positions against any accidental movement by the flaps 4I, 42 of the male locking member cooperating with the quadrants 39, 4I) of the easel flaps to prevent any movement of the quadrants until the male member is first collapsed against the back part I4.

In that form of the invention shown in Fig. 5, the separate easel sheet 20 is omitted and the easel flap and female locking member formed of the single sheet 45 constituting the back of the frame. The lower cut 46 separating the inner back part from the lower transverse rim portion 41 is interrupted as shown to permit the formation of the easel aps 4B, 49. Said flaps are separated from the inner back part by the inclined cuts 50, 5I, the lower inclined cuts 52, 53 and the horizontal cuts 54, arranged above the lowermost edge 56 of the rim portion 41, so that said portion is not severed but continues from side to side of the frame. It will be noted, however, that the lower parts of the easel aps are cut out of the upper central part of said rim portion.

The male locking member 51 is similar to the locking member 26. It projects into the opening of the female locking member, and is provided with grooves 59, 59 and with side flaps 60, 6I and is also hinged to the rim portion 41 by the hinge score lines 62, 63. However, since the female locking member is cut out of the same sheet as the male member, there are no overlapping parts on said members, but said members are separated by the cuts 64, 65, 66, 61, 68, 69, 10, 1I and 12 to form the sectors 13, 14 and the sector receiving grooves 58, 59. Additional curved cuts as 15, 16 similar to the cuts 34, 36 of Fig. 1 and the joining cut 11, similar to the cut 35 remove the cut-out part of the female member to provide a perforation or aperture. It will be noted that the cuts 68, 69 extend between the cuts 61, 10 and the cuts 54, 55 respectively, thereby to permit the part 45 and easel to be lifted for the insertion or replacement of a picture in the frame. Suitable linger receiving cuts 18, 19, 8U may be formed in the edges of the easel flaps and the top edge of the male locking member to permit easy lifting thereof. I'he manipulation and locking action of this form of the invention is similar to that already described, and the description thereof need not therefore be repeated.

While we have shown the invention applied to a double flap or double wing easel, it will be obvious that it may be applied equally as well to an easel having a single flap or wing and wherein the hinge or score line for the single flap is arranged at the middle line of the back. In that case, the female locking member remains the same and the male locking member is simply formed with a single groove to receive the quadrant of the single flap, the parts functioning in back sheet having cuts therein dividing the 15 sheet into a rim and into an inner back part fitted into the rim and swingable relatively thereto, an easel sheet having a central part secured to the back part and overlapping the rim,

said easel sheet having an opening therein and a pair of spaced quadrants projecting into the opening, said easel sheet having side aps eX- tensible to a position perpendicular to the back part, and a locking member having a central p0rtion upstanding from the rim between the quadrants and entering the opening of the easel sheet and having side flaps partly overlapping the quadrants, each of said Side ilaps being separated from the central portion of the member by a groove, said looking member being swingable out of the plane of the rim to a position substantially perpendicular thereto and receiving the quadrants in the respective grooves thereof to lock the easel sheet and the back part to the rim and also to lock the easel aps together.

GEORGE ROSENBERG. LOUIS SPISELMAN. 

